Britons could soon be earning air miles or supermarket loyalty points for eating healthily, cutting energy consumption or using public transport under the latest idea to ‘nudge’ people into better lifestyles.

A Canadian entrepreneur whose Social Change Rewards scheme has been a big hit in his homeland has been canvassing possible partners in the loyalty card industry, including the giant Nectar brand.

Andreas Souvaliotis and other executives behind Social Change Rewards have had meetings in Britain and recently held a lunch hosted by the Canadian High Commission in London to talk to possible partners for a new scheme for the UK among other countries.

A pilot scheme in Leeds has been agreed and Souvaliotis and his team are expected to meet London Mayor Boris Johnson to discuss the idea.

Souvaliotis and Nectar declined to comment, but Nectar – whose partners include BP, Sainsbury’s and Homebase – has already embarked on some initiatives of its own, including a scheme with Oxfam where shoppers can earn points when their donated items are sold.

The original operation in Canada is now part of that country’s Air Miles rewards scheme and known as Air Miles for Social Change. But the points can also be used for shopping as well.

Air Miles for Social Change has been used to promote government and commercial programmes including offering points to encourage people to fill in online health assessment forms, cutting energy use and buying more fresh vegetables.

Health officials in Leeds want to use the pilot to drive health and sustainability policies. Organisers are considering linking the programme to the Leeds Card, which is offered to everyone in the city for £7.50 a year and gives discounts at sports and leisure facilities and sports goods stores, plus eye tests and cookery courses.

Johnson’s aides have met Souvaliotis and both teams are preparing for a meeting. Dr Ian Cameron, director of public health at Leeds, said: ‘This city is constantly looking for new ways to support large-scale social change promoting healthier lifestyles and reducing health inequalities, and this type of approach could have significant benefits.’

Souvaliotis said one scheme in Canada run in partnership with supermarket giant Safeway boosted sales of fresh fruit and vegetables across the chain by four per cent in a month. Another encouraged vastly more people to take online health checks.

There are about 25 separate programmes across Canada that are based on Souvaliotis’s idea. One gives points to people using buses, earning them up to five Air Miles a day. Another offers 400 Air Miles for signing up with a company providing homes with green energy.

Souvaliotis said: ‘Some people may not like to hear this, but our instinct as a species is to be greedy. The loyalty industry is based on that. Canadians are known as the biggest points chasers on the planet and the British aren’t far behind.’

He said the scheme could partially replace government advertisements on health and sustainability issues as well as being used by commercial firms to ‘nudge’ consumers to behave in a healthier or more sustainable way.

The scheme would work best if it was linked to an existing loyalty programme that had a broad customer base such as Nectar. ‘We could hit the ground quickly by riding on the back of the biggest elephant,’ said Souvaliotis.

He described the Air Miles scheme as the ‘Canadian Nectar Card’ and said it was broader than the name suggested, with less than ten per cent of the points spent on flights. In Britain, Air Miles have been replaced by Avios.

Souvaliotis admitted there could be contradictions in the scheme, particularly because it might partner another loyalty card.

That could mean consumers could sign up to a fitness programme in the morning and decide to buy three bottles of Coca-Cola for the price of two in the afternoon.

Or they could sign up to a sustainable energy programme in the hope they can save enough points to take a flight to Spain.

But Souvaliotis said that the main point of the scheme was subtly to change behaviour.

‘We are not trying to radically shift the behaviour of a population. If you try to do that, you will fail.’ He added that it was accepted that when people took the first step, such as signing up to a government programme to stop smoking, they were more likely to achieve their goal eventually.

‘You might say – well today I drank that litre of Coke but I also ate some carrots,’ he said.

‘It’s all about accepting imperfection. If you are willing to accept there will be imperfections you are more likely to achieve results.’

Souvaliotis said he was sure of investor backing but the amount invested would depend on finding the right partners.